OFFICE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

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PRECEPTOR SPOTLIGHT PRECEPTOR OF THE YEAR AWARDS P-4 STUDENT ROTATIONS SERVICE LEARNING

>>> Mr. Renier Coetzee receives the Preceptor of the Year Award from Dean Patricia Chase.

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OFFICE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

DeanPatricia A. Chase, Ph.D.

Director,Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences

Lena Maynor, Pharm.D., BCPSlmaynor@hsc.wvu.edu

Director,Introductory Pharmacy

Practice ExperiencesGina Baugh, Pharm.D. gbaugh@hsc.wvu.edu

Contributing WritersChloe Detrick,

Public Relations InternAmy Newton,

Director, Public Relations and Alumni Affairs

1120 Health Sciences Center NorthPO Box 9520

Morgantown, WV 26506-9520lmaynor@hsc.wvu.edu

The WVU Board of Governors is the governing body of WVU. The Higher

Education Policy Commission in West Virginia is responsible for developing,

establishing, and overseeing the implementation of a public policy

agenda for the state’s four-year colleges and universities.

West Virginia University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution.

Visit our website:pharmacy.hsc.wvu.edu/explearning

Office of Experiential Learning

Gina Baugh, Pharm.D.DirectorIntroductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences

>>> Lena Maynor >>> Gina Baugh

Maya Angelou once said, “When you know better, you do better.” These words are particularly appropriate for our students completing their experiential rotations. We often hear students say that they learn best by doing. Being able to see the practice of pharmacy in so many settings and experiencing the challenges inherent in delivering pharmacy care to real patients is a gift. The ability to make a mistake with a preceptor as a safety net is essential to our students’ education. Your time, guidance, and expertise help our students to know better, so that they can do better.

We are extremely grateful for everything that you do for our students, and we are very excited to share some of their accomplishments from the last year. From IPPE Service Learning to coordinating health fairs, our students never fail to impress with their enthusiasm and dedication to patients, the community, and the profession of pharmacy. During their APPE rotations, many of our students go above and beyond and, with your help, are very well prepared to begin their pharmacy careers.

As you may know, our School was ranked No. 26 in the Best Health Schools-Pharmacy category of the U.S. News and World Report’s 2013 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” We strive for excellence in pharmacy education, and our experiential education program, which comprises 30% of the entire curriculum, is a major component in preparing our graduates. Our student pharmacists are highly competitive upon graduation, and we want every student to have the opportunity to reach his or her goals. This year, our recent graduates accepted positions as community and hospital pharmacists, with a significant number of students entering pharmacy residency training.

None of this would be possible without outstanding preceptors. By taking on roles of teaching and mentoring, you help our students learn how to do better. Many of our rotation sites are in traditional pharmacy settings in the community and hospitals, while others expose our students to novel types of practice. You will have the opportunity to read about our APPE Preceptor and Faculty Preceptor of the Year, as well as about two sites in the state that provide tremendous opportunities for our student pharmacists. We hope that you find some inspiration in reading about what other preceptors are doing in their rotations.

We know that being a preceptor requires you to adjust your workflow, your schedule, and sometimes sacrificing personal time in order to provide students with the attention they need. We never cease to be amazed by the dedication that you demonstrate to our students, our School, and our profession. We thank you for all that you have done, and continue to do.

Lena Maynor, Pharm.D., BCPSDirector Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences

Message from the

Photo by M. Greg Ellis

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Patty Johnston’s loyalty to being a preceptor is undeniable.“I remember when I was a student pharmacist and being on rotation,” she said. “I learned a lot from everyone on all my rotations, and I feel it’s important to give back to our current students so they have the same type of learning experiences I had.”

Johnston has been offering WVU student pharmacists Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) community practice rotations since she graduated from the WVU School of Pharmacy in 1977. Her pharmacy, Colony Drug & Wellness Center located in Beckley, W.Va., gives students the opportunity to not only learn to provide medications to patients in the Beckley community, but to also teach students how to provide medication management and disease state counseling.

One of the most prevalent disease states Johnston and her staff at Colony Drug & Wellness Center receive inquiries and provide counseling for is diabetes.

West Virginia falls third behind Mississippi and Alabama as states with the highest percentage of prevalence of diabetes. Raleigh County, where Johnston’s pharmacy is located, is one of the counties in West Virginia that has the highest prevalence of diabetes. The student pharmacists work with Johnston and Arnie Vaughn, RD, LD, CDE, to counsel patients on their diabetes.

“I strongly believe that it is up to us as preceptors to give the student pharmacists who are on our rotations a realistic view of what type of health care counseling we as pharmacists provide and how, as pharmacists, we can help better educate the community about their health and get their disease states under control,” Johnston said.

Johnston encourages her rotation students to provide direct patient counseling and health education through health-related activities whether they are inside or outside her pharmacy setting. Students have coordinated “brown bag” medication reviews in the pharmacy,

Patty Johnston, R.Ph.have given presentations at area schools about what a pharmacist does, have participated in health fairs, and have even gone on the road with Johnston to raise awareness about the importance of getting flu shots and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Student pharmacists are also provided with the opportunity to learn to compound medications for all patients, both human and animal. Students work under the guidance of Johnston and Keith Foster, R.Ph., to learn how to calculate and prepare medications based from prescription orders from physicians, dentists, or veterinarians.

While Colony Drug & Wellness Center offers APPE rotations for fourth-year students, first-year students in the Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) portion of the Pharm.D. program also have the opportunity to work with Johnston and her team.

For the IPPE program, first-year students are assigned a community practice site in Morgantown or their hometown within West Virginia. They spend 25 hours at that assigned site per semester and complete a two-week, 80-hour capstone at the end of the year for a total of 130 hours that allow them to apply didactic knowledge from their IPPE courses and PCL exercises into a real-world setting. The students complete workbook activities at their assigned site that relate to topics from the didactic curriculum such as Top 200 Drugs, adverse drug events, medication errors, third-party payors, and controlled substances.

“Patty has served as an IPPE preceptor for the community practice experiences since the program was initiated in 2006,” Dr. Gina Baugh, director of IPPE, said. “She always provides students an outstanding example of independent community pharmacy practice and instills in them a true sense of pride in the profession of pharmacy. Student feedback regarding their rotation experience at Colony Drug & Wellness Center is always overwhelmingly positive.”

SPOTLIGHTPreceptor

Colony Drug & Wellness Center

SERVICES OFFERED:>> Prescription Services

>> My Daily Rx (Medication Packaging System)

>> Medication Therapy Management

>> Hormone Replacement Therapy

>> Compounding

>> Dietary Counseling

>> Health Screenings

>> Immunizations

>> Diabetes Services

• Counseling and Monitoring

• Diabetes Supplies • Equipment Training

>>> Dr. Nicholas Jameson

Photo by M. Greg Ellis

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Preceptor

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A preceptor can take on many roles at their rotation site as they guide students through their fourth-year in the Doctor of Pharmacy program and prepare them for a real-world career. While rotation duties vary at each site, you have the important responsibility of instructing students as they professionally and efficiently complete the tasks that have been assigned to them. You serve as the teachers and mentors to our students to help them become better pharmacists through hands-on experience. Our 2013 Preceptor of the Year Award recipients have gone above and beyond to provide our student pharmacists with exceptional rotation experiences, and the WVU School of Pharmacy is grateful for all they have done.

through an interpreter as there are eleven official languages in South Africa.

In the Preceptor of the Year Award nomination, students who have completed the South Africa rotation experience have stated that Coetzee has a “willingness to go out of his way to encourage and cultivate learning,” and that “it is obvious that everything he does is done out of devotion to the pharmacy profession.”

“One of my biggest passions, and I knew from a young age because my parents always said I should become a teacher, is to mentor and train students,” Coetzee said. “Teaching in the work environment is ideal. Students not only get to learn something academically, but also have the opportunity to practice it.”

Coetzee traveled 36 hours to attend the School of Pharmacy’s Class of 2013 commencement ceremony where he was presented with the award. While he stated it took a while for him to believe that he was chosen, when he walked into the ceremony, he realized it was true.

“It is a huge encouragement for me as a young Pharm.D. in South Africa,” he said. “We only have a few, about four, Pharm.D. graduates at this point in time. I thank WVU for giving me this award and seeing the potential in me. We all need mentors. There is so much to learn every day and there is no way that one can learn and develop new skills on your own. Preceptors are there to guide you to become the best pharmacists you can be.”

Faculty Preceptor of the Year MATTHEW BLOMMELRecipients of the inaugural WVU School of Pharmacy Faculty Preceptor of the Year Award — formerly the P-4 Teacher of the Year Award — have been chosen by students to be recognized for the interactive training they provide. The 2013 recipient is Dr. Matthew Blommel, assistant director of the WV Center for Drug & Health Information.

“Being a preceptor allows instructors to connect with students on a more personal level,” Blommel said. “The classroom gives students an example of how it could be done, but as a preceptor, I am able to give them examples of how it is being done.”

The WV Center for Drug & Health Information has served as a comprehensive drug information resource for health care providers throughout West Virginia for over 30 years. Blommel is approaching his tenth year as a preceptor at the Center this October.

During the drug information rotation, students take calls from health care providers and answer questions about various medications being prescribed to patients. Questions can vary, and callers are often seeking information on how the medication works, if it is being correctly prescribed for that specific disease state, and if it has been used to treat that particular condition in the past.

In addition to taking calls, students also engage in exercises at the Center including writing drug monographs and news articles.

“After they have completed their rotations, I find that the students become much more confident in their ability to find information and go through the research process,” Blommel said. “It also benefits the community by serving as a helpful resource for health care providers to call with questions about any medication or health-related issue they may be facing.”

In the Faculty Preceptor of the Year nomination, it was stated that Dr. Blommel “is genuinely interested in helping students learn and takes the time to help you in any way he can. He has also taken his time to teach us about medical literature evaluation as well as listening to our concerns and providing us with career advice. This shows his interest in seeing students succeed and his ability to provide an effective educational experience.”

“It is an honor to receive the WVU School of Pharmacy Faculty Preceptor of the Year Award,” Blommel said. “It is nice to be able to connect with the students, and receiving this award validates that I’m making a significant impact.”

>>>Dr. Matthew Blommel receives the

Faculty Preceptor of the Year Award from Dean Patricia Chase.

Preceptor of the Year Awards

Preceptor of the Year RENIER COETZEEThe WVU School of Pharmacy Preceptor of the Year Award recognizes pharmacists who are committed to the experiential training of our student pharmacists by providing them with an outstanding learning experience. The award recipients are nominated by students based on their experience at their rotation site.

Mr. Renier Coetzee is the preceptor at Livingstone Hospital in South Africa. Working with Dr. Jon Wietholter in our Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Coetzee has served as the main South Africa rotation experience contact since the rotation — centered in Livingstone and Dora Nginza Hospitals in Port Elizabeth — began three years ago.

Coetzee received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in pharmacy from North-West University, and is currently completing his Pharm.D. degree through Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa.

“I chose to pursue a career in the profession of pharmacy as I wanted job satisfaction and to be involved in my community,” Coetzee said. “What better way to do that than as a pharmacist.”

The goal of the rotation is to give the student pharmacists the experience of practicing pharmacy in an international setting. During the acute care rotation, each student pharmacist is assigned a ward with approximately 12-15 beds where they provide direct patient care with a focus on patients diagnosed with HIV and TB. While many aspects of practice are similar to patient care practices in the U.S., such as working side-by-side with the doctors and nurses at the hospitals, other aspects challenge the students to work harder to connect with their patients in order to deliver care. An example of this is learning how to communicate with their patients. The student pharmacists discuss medical histories and medication treatments with their patients

<<< Renier Coetzee

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>>> Dr. Lacey Sweeney

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“Upon entering rotations, I was really excited to start a new phase in my life,” Dr. Jeffrey Davis said. “I was more than ready to leave the didactic part of pharmacy school and start into the practical part of my career. For me, rotations only reinforced that I wanted to practice community pharmacy.” Dr. Davis will be working with Rite Aid Pharmacy in the northern panhandle of W.Va./Eastern Ohio.

“Before my rotation, I had a vague idea of how members of a health care team interacted with one another. This made me both nervous and excited because I did not know my specific role,” Dr. Jordan McPherson said. “It was refreshing to see the amount of respect given to the pharmacist on the team and the involvement that my preceptors encouraged students to have in patient care. I feel that my rotation schedule was a fantastic segue into independent clinical practice. I came into rotations with so many questions about what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be, and rotations really helped me to clarify those things. I recognized the fact that my patients’ lives were real and they were in my hands. This forced me to constantly learn and seek answers.” Dr. McPherson is completing a PGY-1 residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Because rotations are designed to give students practical experience to choose which aspect of the profession of pharmacy they want to practice after graduation, they allow for a real-

world application of concepts previously learned in the classroom.

“Rotations opened my eyes to the fact that patient care is not as fixed as we perceive it to be in the classroom,” Dr. Lacey Sweeney said. “As students, we always want a clear and defined answer because we’re oriented to memorize material for testing purposes. I learned how important it is to always put the patient first and modify your goals based on them. It sounds so simple, but sometimes as students we get so caught up in finding right answers that we forget to just look at the patient. One of my preceptors taught me that in any situation, regardless of whatever the circumstances are, as long as you are doing what’s best for the patient, then you are doing the right thing.” Dr. Sweeney will be working at Marietta Memorial Hospital in Marietta, Ohio, as a staff pharmacist.

“I enjoyed all of my rotations, but especially the ambulatory care rotations where I got to meet with my own patients, teach them about their medications, and make recommendations to their providers,” Dr. Ashleigh Landis said. “I also really enjoyed my teaching rotation and the challenges and rewards associated with each. Many of my rotations were challenging, but they were also exciting because I was constantly learning new information and was able to apply the information that I had learned from classes to solve medication therapy problems for specific patients.” Dr. Landis will

PERSPECTIVESStudent

be completing a WVU School of Pharmacy community practice residency program in Morgantown beginning July 2013.

The Office of Experiential Learning thanks all of our preceptors who work so hard to give our students an informative, well-rounded rotation experience to help them on their paths to becoming skilled pharmacy practitioners.

Rotations for a P-4 student pharmacist can be a challenging experience. The student pharmacist’s Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) includes rotations in acute care, ambulatory care, community, institutional, and patient care or general electives. They are stepping out of their comfort zones of the classroom, and they don’t know what to expect or who they will encounter. The unknown territory can leave some student pharmacists with an anxious feeling as they move closer to the new and unfamiliar rotation experience. Several Class of 2013 graduates remember their time before starting rotations and anticipating what their final year at the WVU School of Pharmacy held for them.

TOP: Drs. Ginger Scott and Jeffrey Davis, WVU School of Pharmacy teaching rotation

MIDDLE: Drs. Jordan Hill and Gina Baugh, WVU School of Pharmacy teaching rotation

BOTTOM: Drs. Jeanne Fields and Shannon Bilyeu, WV Center for Drug & Health Information drug information rotation

>>> Dr. Jordan McPherson>>> Dr. Ashleigh Landis

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Newly Graduated Pharmacists Reflect on Rotation Experiences

>>> Dr. Jeffrey Davis

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Dr. Gina Baugh is the Director of the Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) program. While she teaches courses in the first three years of the curriculum, it is during the second year through service learning activities that she opens our students’ eyes to the needs of the community. She knows that being able to provide these hands-on community experiences to our students gives them the opportunity to see how important the role of a pharmacist is in keeping the community healthy while at the same time showing students that the profession of pharmacy is one of compassion. Baugh and the WVU School of Pharmacy were partnered with Upward Bound, a U.S. Department of Education TRIO-funded program that serves high school students who are academically at risk or may be the first in their family to pursue higher education. Upward Bound’s main goals are to increase graduation rates by helping students overcome the academic, social, and cultural barriers associated with earning a college degree.

Service Learning: Teaching while Learning

“After looking through the potential partners, I felt the School could really help to meet the goals of Upward Bound,” Baugh said. “Upward Bound specifically partnered with us to expose students to careers in health sciences and the academic rigors that take part in those careers.”

Under Baugh’s guidance, a group of second-year student pharmacists spent their fall 2012 semester creating a project for Upward Bound students in the spring 2013 semester.

“The overall goal of our activity was to help the students of Upward Bound get a better grasp of what pharmacy and other health sciences schooling demands,” P-2 Eric Likar of Penn Township, Pa., said. “Our project group members are proud to be student pharmacists, and we are excited to work with Upward Bound and share our journey of what we went through to get to where we are. We hope that we help impact the students’ lives by working with them to better prepare for college.”

Approximately 30 Upward Bound students participated in the group’s first activity. The morning session provided the participants with presentations on health topics. The afternoon session led the students through a health sciences education crash course on tuition, time management, class selection, study habits, as well as participating in lab activities student pharmacists would have in class.

Franchesca Nestor, director, West Virginia Campus Compact, was very excited about working with the WVU student pharmacists on the project. “The health information the WVU School of Pharmacy students provided to Upward Bound youth will not only be a valuable educational experience for the participants, but also for the students themselves as they combine academic learning with real-world implications,” Nestor said. “The series of workshops on health issues will provide youth in our community with important information they might not have otherwise, and keeping

communities healthy helps ensure long-term positive outcomes for everyone.”

The Upward Bound project was funded by a $5,000 grant Dr. Baugh received from the WVU Center for Civic Engagement to develop a service project. The grant was made possible by West Virginia Campus Compact, an initiative of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, through its 2012 Campus-Community LINK project. Under this program, college faculty members are matched with community organizations to create projects that meet the course’s academic requirements while also serving and meeting the needs and goals of the community.

The grant provided funding for the transportation of the Upward Bound students to the activity as well as funded the purchase of scientific calculators and USB drives. “We feel that these two educational tools are vital for a college student, and we want Upward Bound students to be prepared in every way possible,” Likar said. “I was thrilled that the WVU School of Pharmacy was chosen as the recipient of one of the grants,” Baugh said. “Our students did an incredible job working with the Upward Bound students. They were able to provide a great educational experience and tools to help participants with their studies, and it was possible to give the Upward Bound students this experience because of the funding we received. I hope that all the students enjoyed themselves and were encouraged to pursue careers in health sciences professions.”

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SPOTLIGHTExperiential Site

Cheat Lake Animal Hospital

When walking into their rotation practice site, most fourth-year students are greeted with, “Good morning,” and “How are you today?” However, for a select group of students, morning greetings consist of barks, meows, and the swishing sound of wagging tails as they start their day at Cheat Lake Animal Hospital in Morgantown.

“I enjoy promoting medication awareness for our pets,” Dr. Lennon Evans said. “Education is important to me and I’m very honored to be a part of the experiential learning program. There is a demand for pharmacists who can compound medications. This is due not only to differences in patients’ sizes and dosages, but also because getting medication into patients can be extremely challenging and providing different forms of medication can be extremely helpful.”

Student pharmacists on rotation at Cheat Lake Animal Hospital fill, refill, or compound prescriptions — working with the veterinarian to obtain authorization — review patient charts for previous medications dispensed, and discuss current drugs of choice versus alternative medications with the veterinarians. Students are also required to complete a special project consisting of a presentation and creating a brochure on a medication or class of medications in which they are interested.

“I absolutely loved my rotation at Cheat Lake Animal Hospital,” Melissa Pablic, Pharm.D., Class of 2013, said. “I was interested in this

rotation because it was outside of my realm of knowledge and my comfort zone. I wanted to see how pharmacy looked when it was applied to an entirely different population.”

Much like human patients, it is important that animal patients receive the correct medication and dose in order to treat their disease state.

“Too often, we see pets for over-the-counter medication toxicities,” Lennon Evans said.

Pets, being the curious animals they are, may accidentally get into medications left on counters, in open purses, or ingest one that was accidentally dropped on the floor. However, there are times when pet owners, while only trying to do what they feel is best to help their pet, may give their pet human medication without speaking to their veterinarian first. To avoid extremely harmful side effects caused by OTC medications and to educate owners about pet medications, another responsibility of the student pharmacists on rotation is working with the veterinarian to counsel pet owners on their patient’s medications to ensure they understand the medication and how to administer it.

“The most challenging part of the rotation was, by far, the fact that I was working with medications that I had spent every day learning the indication for, but, in veterinary medicine, those indications don’t apply,” Pablic said.

“I think it should be a requirement for all pharmacists to experience the veterinary side of medication,” Lennon Evans said. “This is because not all animals metabolize medications the same way and some substitutions can’t be made.”

In the profession of pharmacy, each day holds something new and you never know where the day might lead you. You may work on a project presentation, counsel numerous patients on their medications and disease states, or work with a team of health care professionals to determine the best course of action for a patient’s treatment. While the patient population may differ, our fourth-year students learn that pharmacists provide valuable input in medication treatments and the quality of life of patients, even those that are four legged and furry.

Fourth-year students have the opportunity to complete one general elective during their APPE rotation schedule. These electives allow students to spend additional time participating in a pharmacy practice setting of interest or allow students to explore areas of potential interest. Cheat Lake Animal Hospital has been providing a veterinary practice experience to WVU student pharmacists for approximately 10 years.

“Working with my preceptor, Dr. Nicewonger, and the rest of the Cheat Lake Animal Hospital staff was great,” Amanda Shaver, Pharm.D., Class of 2013, said. “I really enjoyed how the veterinarians went out of their way to explain disease states and pharmaceutical treatment protocols for the furry and feathered patient populations. After my unique experience there, I was able to come away with some important information that I plan to use to help my patients and their pets in the retail pharmacy setting.”

Roxanne Lennon Evans, DVM, preceptor at Cheat Lake Animal Hospital, is happy to be providing this specialized elective to our rotation students.

Dr. Lennon Evans and P-4 Amy Toler discuss medication for a pet.

>>>

<<< Dr. Lennon Evans

OFFICE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Approximately 20 preceptors attended the program that focused on issues related to being a pharmacy preceptor. Sessions included presentations on how to become a successful preceptor and mentor, designing patient care experiences in the outpatient and inpatient settings, fostering professionalism, working with students and generational and learning differences, designing research projects, how to give effective feedback, and more. Special thanks to Justin Hare, Pharm.D., WVU Healthcare; Julie Rumbach-Austin, R.Ph., M.B.A., Kroger Pharmacy; and Jay Martello, Pharm.D., and Jon Wietholter, Pharm.D., WVU School of Pharmacy, for their presentations and leading discussions.

Preceptor Development CE Program

For more preceptor development opportunities, please visit our OEL website at http://pharmacy.hsc.wvu.edu/explearning/.

The Office of Experiential Learning hosted a CE program for preceptors on June 1 at Stonewall Resort.

OFFICE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

1120 HSC NorthPO Box 9520Morgantown, WV 26506-9520

Address Service Requested

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